An Israeli businessman became a guest of Iran when his flight had to
make an emergency landing. Benny Medvediev spent the weekend in Tehran after
the plane on which he was traveling from Turkey to India had to land midway
because of technical problems.Medvediev said the crew refused to allow
him to wait aboard the plane, so he was forced to disembark with the
other passengers. To his surprise, Iranian officials treated him well
despite knowing his nationality. He was the sole Israeli among the group,
though there was a Jewish couple from Britain that owns property in Israel.
“For the first hour I was scared to death,” Medvediev told Yediot Achronot
on Sunday. “But soon enough I realized that Iranians do not have horns. They
were really wonderful to me and even invited me to return to Tehran. I
told them, come on, let’s make peace and I’ll invite you to Jerusalem.”
After a daylong wait in the transit lounge of Tehran airport, Medvediev and
his fellow passengers reboarded their plane and continued without incident
to Bombay.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
